PLEASE NOTE: THIS LECTURE FOLLOWS THE AGM, OPEN TO MEMBERS ONLY.

A king's favourite who amassed a great art collection.

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was the favourite of King James I - who addressed him as ‘my sweet child and wife’ - and subsequently chief minister to King Charles I. Buckingham was a beauty, and he surrounded himself with beautiful things. He enjoyed exquisite clothes, like the fabulous white silk suit encrusted with diamonds that he wore to visit the Queen of France. He was a superb dancer. When he cut capers during a court masque King James startled visiting ambassadors by shouting out ‘By God, George, I love you!’ 

He was a discerning patron. Inigo Jones renovated his houses. John Tradescant was his garden designer.  In his great house on the Strand he put together a collection of art works as fine as King Charles’s.  At the age of 35 Buckingham was murdered. His collection was scattered, but contemporary inventories allow us to reconstruct it. 

We will look at some of the magnificent paintings he owned - the Titians, the Tintorettos, the Veroneses. But Buckingham was not just a collector of old masters: he was also a patron, commissioning boldly innovative new work. Most remarkable are the portraits of himself that he commissioned from painters including Van Honthorst, Van Dyck and Rubens – images by great artists of a man known as ‘the handsomest-bodied man in Europe’. 

The lecturer's book on Buckingham, THE SCAPEGOAT, was  published by 4th Estate in 2024. It has been short-listed for the Duff Cooper Prize

This lecture introduces some of Japan’s most famous gardens and provides a context for understanding the principles of Japanese garden design as it has evolved through the ages. The Japanese love of nature and the changing seasons has manifested itself in the subject matter of paintings and in the intimate and grand-scale gardens surrounding aristocratic palaces and Buddhist temples as well as Zen-inspired dry landscape gardens with their strikingly symbolic content. Nature and artifice are intriguingly combined in such examples to capture the very essence of the landscape. Historical developments and religious and philosophical influences have informed the Japanese approach to the visual arts. This lecture will also draw upon wider examples to illustrate the distinctive qualities that the Japanese have brought to garden design, an approach that has been successfully adapted to modern domestic settings and to Japanese gardens abroad.   

It is possible to ‘read’ the passage of time, of movements, cultures and peoples in the architecture and art forms evident in many of our older English country churches. This lecture takes us from the pre-Christian era, through the arrival of the Romans and onwards to the sixteenth century and the epoch changing Tudors Simple indicators are given how to identify churches with Roman and Saxon origins. The great flowering of Romanesque and gothic architecture that followed the invasion of the Normans in the eleventh century are explained with illustrated examples. Onwards again into the high Middle Ages and the tumultuous changes of the Reformation we can see the architectural and structural evidence of a period of great change.

Ten iconic dresses within ten famous portraits from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Portraits that have shocked and delighted audiences in equal measure - the scandal of Sargent’s little black dress, Whistler’s ghostly women in white, Klimt’s golden visions fit for a queen to the swirling dreamlike drapery of Leighton’s Flaming June. Fashion and art has long been entwined and in the same way that every picture tells a story so too does every dress!

“Mrs Treslove has been sitting and we have got on pretty well- but she left me at two….[The Tresloves] are going out of town for a week so this will stop my picture.” John Constable to his wife Maria in Putney Heath, May 1826.

Until 2019, when it was brought to Sarah Cove ACR for cleaning and restoration, the whereabouts of Constable's sumptuous portrait of his neighbour in Charlotte Street, Mrs Emily Treslove, was unknown. It had come down through five generations of her family to the present owners along with a volume of her Diaries and a jewel from the flashy parure of garnet and pearl jewellery given to her by her husband Thomas Treslove QC on 7th March 1825.

This portrait of Emily in all her finery is arguably one of Constable’s finest. 

Sarah Cove has not only cleaned, restored and examined the paintings, she has also had privileged access to the key diary volume and the garnet jewel (worn in the painting) for photography and research. She has consulted fellow Arts Society Lecturer John Benjamin for detailed information about the jewels as well as costume history for information of the fabulous dress. She has followed the tale, and trail, of Emily and Thomas's life and career and visited the locations of their various London residences. A story of excessive wealth, vanity, fashion and politics is revealed in this lecture, illustrating how the technical study of Constable’s paintings, alongside his letters and the sitter's diaries, widens our understanding of his portrait practice and the frivolity of the nouveau riche in the early 19th century.

An epic tale of two extraordinary figures from the same valley in Yorkshire who were destined to change the world of fashion and design for all time. A story that takes us from the mills of Yorkshire in the 1920s to the coast of Cornwall. From Welwyn Garden City to the corridors of power at Westminster. Art, design, textiles, fashion, politics, publishing, philosophy, and the very genesis of modern art in Britain. This lecture tells the story of creativity, determination, passion, and resilience of a true textile Maverick.

This lecture and the Christmas Lunch will be held at Bramhall Park Golf Club, 20 Manor Road, Bramhall, SK7 3LY. The booking form can be found here,

Before The Nutcracker became everybody's favourite Christmas ballet, it was staged in Tsarist Russia.  With reference to the glorious history of the Imperial Ballet company in St. Petersburg, this lecture discusses how Tchaikovsky came to write his magical score and Petipa created its choreography, and also tells the story of the dancers who created the leading roles.  It also explores Tchaikovsky's role in transforming classical ballet into the vibrant art form it is today.

NB THIS LECTURE IS ON A TUESDAY

Occurring between 1820 and 1880, this broad movement featured many American Landscape artists, from many schools, including the celebrated Hudson River School, and the Luminists.

Properly they are part of the Romantic Movement , which swept through European and American Art and Literature from the late 18C to the late 19C, and followed from Voltaire’s replacement of God with the Natural World, following a cataclysmic earthquake and Tsunami in Lisbon in 1755 .

The three great painters of the American Sublime, as it was known, were Frederick Edwin Church, Thomas Cole and Thomas Moran of which the latter two both originated in Bolton.  Amost as important was Albert Bierstadt, trained in common with many painters in America at the Dusseldorf Academy.

These artists all found inspiration in the dramatic and sensational landscapes of North Americas mountains, waterfalls, volcanoes and seacoasts, new subjects emerging as explorers railway builders and settlers opened up ‘the Way West, with California as the Glittering Prize.

Thomas Cole is celebrated for his work in the Catskills, as part of the Hudson River School and his series ‘The Progress of Empire’, Moran for his views of Green River Wyoming and Yellowstone, which, with its geysers, canyons and other wonders, would become the US first National Park, and Frederick Edwin Church, though best known for his series of views of Niagara Falls, travelled far and wide, painting Icebergs and the Northern Lights in the Arctic, the volcano Cotopaxi in Ecuador, and numerous other wild and dangerous places.

Venice is known for Pizza, Pasta, Palaces and Popes, and also for VETRO VENEZIANO...Venetian Glass.  In the talk Murano Glass: The Jewel of Venice we explore how Murano became the epicentre of excellence for glassmaking across the world.

We begin by exploring the origin of Venice and the building of 189 canals built to create the floating city of Venice, before taking a short gondola ride to the tiny island of Murano.  Here we learn of the many enduring styles of Murano glass and delve into the lives of these ancient artisans.

The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ushered in a new type of high-status residence in the midlands – the late mediaeval great house. Previous scholars were somewhat obsessed with the semi-fortified nature of these properties. However, modern research has demonstrated that they were multi-functional and highly complex structures which offered opportunities for socially rising elites to show off their status in society.

This talk is based on recent fieldwork and research at sites including Haddon Hall (Derbyshire), Greasley Castle (Nottinghamshire), Tattershall Castle (Lincolnshire) and Ashby Castle (Leicestershire).

Image: Haddon Hall

Almost everyone has played Monopoly at some time in their life.  It is one of the world’s most popular and enduring board games.  But, how well do you really know it? This talk starts with the original Landlord’s Game of 1903 and its evolution into the game as we know it today.  Based on the classic 1936 London version we then take a photographic journey around the locations on that Monopoly board.  Expect some surprises as we explore the relationships between the various properties, look at the ones that don’t actually exist and uncover the story behind the game we all know so well - or do we?

A keen and accomplished photographer Roger Mendham has gained Distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society and is currently the President of the Surrey Photographic Association. His artistic taste is predominantly 20th century and he is particularly interested in the visual aspects of art. He has studied the evolution of photography from its earliest days in the early 1800s to becoming a major art form in the late 20th and now 21st centuries. An experienced public speaker, his talks are all richly illustrated with both his own and images from some of the leading photographers in history.

Black Fashion designers have gone unrecognised and underrepresented within the history of western
fashion. There is much to be learnt from Black designers and how their experiences have changed throughout
history. In the same way, Black models deserve major recognition too – they have not only helped transform
attitudes and ideals of beauty, but they are also pioneers, trailblazers and activists who have revolutionised
the fashion industry.

Scott William Schiavone is a Fashion Historian and Curator. Scott is both University of Glasgow and London
College of Fashion alumni having graduated from the MA (Hons) History of Art and MA Fashion Curation in
2004 and 2010 respectively. Scott has worked with fashion and textile collections across the UK, including
Glasgow Museums, National Museums Scotland and The Harris Museum in Preston where he is currently the
Decorative Art Curator. Scott has his own YouTube channel, Fashion;…which now has over 4,500
subscribers. His areas of expertise are nineteenth and twentieth century French, British and American
womenswear, luxury fashion accessories and marginalised social histories of fashion.

The lecture will trace the story of Banksy’s humble beginnings as a tagger on the streets of Bristol in the
1980’s to one of the most recognisable names in the art world.  We will examine the reasons behind his
incredible rise, looking at some of his famous stunts and discuss what his influence has been on the art
market today and look at what his legacy, if any, might be.

Pepe writes;

I qualified as a London blue badge tourist guide in 2011, graduating at the top of my class. Since qualifying as
a guide I have specialised in the graffiti and street art of East London. Prior to becoming a London blue
badge, I was a tour manager for 15 years, travelling extensively, all over the world.   I can organise and
arrange lecture facilities in central London. I can also combine a lecture with a walk of street art and graffiti in
the East End and I can also organise a practical spray session, giving your group an opportunity to have a go
at creating their own works.

Jane Austen compared the finely-observed sketches of human nature in her novels to the tiny, cherished portraits that her family and friends carried around as tokens of their loved ones.

During her lifetime, British artists excelled in this form of intimate portraiture, and, as Austen’s novels show, miniatures and silhouettes were an important symbol in courtship and family life. This lecture will use some of the best examples of this typically Regency art form to show how ‘portraits in little’ expressed affection and changed lives.

Amina Wright has three decades of experience as a curator of historic art collections and exhibitions. She has produced several major exhibitions on eighteenth-century British Art and Old Masters and published and lectured widely in these areas. She has recently completed a brand new one-of-a-kind museum, the Auckland Project’s Faith Museum in County Durham.

As Senior Curator at the Holburne Museum in Bath she was a leading member of the team that delivered the museum’s highly successful 2011 redevelopment. Amina has also worked for English Heritage and the National Trust and has an MA in Christianity & the Arts from King’s College London. 

When the very first Chinese porcelains found their way to Europe, the beauty and fragility of the material led
to their being mounted with precious metal and treasured alongside other rare and exotic objects such as
ostrich eggs and rock crystal vessels. They were housed in cabinets of curiosities and exchanged as
diplomatic gifts between great European rulers.

Jane has a MA History of Art, University of London. Trained at the V&A and continues to lecture there. Was Senior
Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for 17 years, becoming a Deputy Director of Sothebys, UK. Has also
lectured for the National Trust, the Art Fund, London University, Buckingham University, l'Etudes
Superieures des Arts in Paris, a private womens college in Saudi Arabia, on cruise ships and at antiques fairs
and interior design conferences in America.

Following Chris's lecture, some members expressed an interest in his tours.

Here are the links to them:

 https://www.indusexperiences.co.uk/tours/a-carpet-ride-to-khiva-2025/

https://www.indusexperiences.co.uk/tours/land-of-fire-and-wine-2025/

Biography: 
Chris Aslan was born in Turkey (hence the name Aslan) and spent his childhood there and in war-torn Beirut.
After school, Chris spent two years at sea before studying Media and Journalism at Leicester University. He
then moved to Khiva, a desert oasis in Uzbekistan, establishing a UNESCO workshop reviving fifteenth
century carpet designs and embroideries, and becoming the largest non-government employer in town. He
was kicked out as part of an anti-Western purge, and took a year in Cambridge to write A Carpet Ride to
Khiva. Chris then spent several years in the Pamirs mountains of Tajikistan, training yak herders to comb their
yaks for their cashmere-like down. Next came a couple more years in Kyrgyzstan living in the world’s largest
natural walnut forest and establishing a wood-carving workshop. Since then, Chris has studied and rowed at
Oxford, and is now based in Cambridge, but with plans to move to North Cyprus. When he’s not lecturing for
The Arts Society, he writes. His latest book, Unravelling the Silk Road, is published by Icon Books. Chris also
takes tours to Central Asia, returning whenever he can, having left a large chunk of his heart out there.

This lecture and the following Christmas lunch will be held at the Pinewoood Hotel in Handforth.

The booking form can be downloaded from Documents.

The first time the word Cartoon was used in the sense that we know it today was in 1843 in Punch magazine.
But the employment of satire, caricature, speech bubbles and the writing of captions had been around long
before then. In this talk Ian tracks the early stages of cartoons and how, through the works of William
Hogarth and James Gillray, they gradually evolved.

Biography: 
Ian Keable gained a First-Class degree from Oxford University, qualified as a Chartered Accountant and
then became a Professional Magician. He is a Member of The Inner Magic Circle. In 2014 he
published 'Charles Dickens Magician: Conjuring in Life, Letters & Literature'. He now divides his time between
performing magic, giving talks and researching and writing. 
His latest book is The Century of Deception: The Birth of the Hoax in Eighteenth-Century England.

This lecture will be held at the Pinewood Hotel in Handforth

Defined by Leonardo da Vinci as "standing between darkness and light", shadows are and always have been
everywhere, but they are not always depicted in art. The origins of the depiction of shadows in art, will be
traced, but they were rarely shown in Classical, Early Christian and Medieval art. The portrayal of shadows
really comes into its own in Renaissance Italy - linked with the immense advances in scientific study and new
learning (especially optics). Shadows can be used to give bodily and other forms a three-dimensionality
hitherto not achieved, or as the actual depiction of cast shadows, sometimes with symbolic meaning.

Biography: 
Valerie is currently Senior Research Associate at Gresham College London (previously Registrar and
Secretary of the College). Having studied at the Universities of Bristol, Manchester and the Witwatersrand,
she has lectured extensively on Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance art and architecture and published
widely on the influence of astronomy and cosmology on art (including her PhD on the influence of Copernican

heliocentricity on Michelangelo’s Sistine Last Judgment). After her main career in education management,
she now works freelance, in order to pursue her writing and research (www.valerieshrimplin.com). She is
Chair of the series of Conferences on the Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena (www.insap.org). Author of
many publications.
 

This lecture will be at the Pinewood Hotel, Handforth

A look at the variety of architectural styles adopted by the British during the period of the Empire in India for
public and private buildings. These range from the neo-classical and Gothic revival to the so-called Indo-
Saracenic and even the Art Deco. Looking at examples from Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi and elsewhere, we
will also consider what the shifting approaches may tell us about British attitudes to the imperial project.

Biography: 
Prasannajit de Silva completed his doctorate in 2007, researching the art of the British in India during the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His lecturing covers British visual culture of the eighteenth,
nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, including art produced in various colonial settings. He is particularly
interested in the relationship of aspects of art, architecture, and design to their broader cultural, social, and
political contexts, and also teaches courses on the methods and theoretical approaches of art history. His
work has included teaching roles at the University of Sussex, at Birkbeck, University of London, and at the
WEA.

When we receive a letter or a Christmas card from someone we know, we often recognise the handwriting
straight away, and know who it’s from without even opening the envelope. Recognising the hand of an artist
can be like that – an instant certainty that the painting must be by Rubens, or El Greco, or Rembrandt. Yet if
you try to explain to someone else how you know that your letter is from that person, or what it is in their
handwriting that is so distinctive, you would probably struggle to put it into words.

Biography: 
Chantal has a MA in History of Art from Edinburgh,a  PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years
experience as a lecturer, Chantal has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative
Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies and institutions in London, including the
National Gallery and the Wallace Collection. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an
understanding of the making and the physical painting to her lectures and study sessions.

British artists have always been fascinated by the maritime world, but in
the age of Turner and Gericault attention shifted to the experience of
sailors and travellers. At first the emphasis was on disaster, but soon we
begin to see more nuanced depictions of ocean travel, such as Ford
Madox Brown's The Last of England. With the 20th century came
opportunities for artists to portray life aboard battleships, ocean liners,
submarines and fishing trawlers. Alternating between drama and serenity,
tragedy and laughter, and featuring works by a star-studded cast of
artists, this lecture brings to life a fascinating story.

In 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder was commissioned to create a series of
paintings for a dining room in Antwerp. The images, charting the course
of a year, changed the way we view the world through art. Landscape had
previously been a decorative backdrop to dramas both sacred and
profane. But in Bruegel's hands the landscape and our interaction with it
became the focus. Looking at paintings such as The Return of the Herd,
Hunters in the Snow and The Gloomy Day, this lecture explores how
Bruegel pioneered a whole new way of thinking about the environment
and our individual places within a shifting cosmos.

So many of our historical references for musical instruments can be found
in works of art. Not only can these windows into the past show us what
the instruments looked like but also the social context in which they
would have been played. Music and different instruments also play a
strong role within symbolism in art. Sophie explores the instruments in
selected works and then gives live demonstrations on replicas of the
instruments depicted.

The work of women photographers has often been unfairly neglected. This
lecture seeks to correct that by examining the contribution of three
outstanding British practitioners; Julia Margaret Cameron, a Victorian
pioneer; Jane Bown, a brilliant portraitist; and Fay Godwin, who excelled

in landscape photography. We also explore the work of two highly
influential Americans: Dorothea Lange, who produced brilliant
documentary images and Annie Leibovitz, who continues to both surprise
and delight her audience.

Years of working as an artist within the Criminal Justice System in
England and Germany have given Angela unique insights into the
destructive and costly cycle of crime, prisons and re-offending. In this
thought-provoking talk she offers a deeper understanding of the minds,
lives and challenges of offenders. With extraordinary slides of art projects
and prisoner’s art, she demonstrates how within the process of creating
art of any discipline, there are vital opportunities for offenders to confront
their crimes and develop the key life skills so essential in leading a
positive and productive life. A frequent response to this talk has been “I
had no idea!” and indeed it casts light onto areas of our society where the
Arts not only are visual, decorative or commercial, but absolutely vital,
hugely relevant and potentially life-changing. This talk is moving,
informative and very original. Interspersed with personal accounts of
humorous or slightly horrifying situations, these talks have kept
audiences across the country engrossed.

In 1845, William Morris travelled around Northern France, visiting the
tapestry weaving studios to learn the technique of medieval tapestry
weaving. At the same time, his dear friend Edward Burne-Jones,
purchased a copy of Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory. Through the
comradeship of the knights and their heroic quests, described in the book,
Morris and Burne-Jones saw an allegory for their own artistic
achievements. This book became their major source for inspiration
throughout their lives, and culminated in their finest artistic achievement,
a narrative series of tapestries called ‘The Quest for the Holy Grail’. The
tapestries were commissioned, in 1888, by the Australian millionaire
William Knox D’Arcy, to decorate and furnish the interior of his home,
Stanmore Hall in Middlesex. This was their final major commission as
Morris died within a year of their completion and Burne-Jones died two
years later. Through my personal conservation of these tapestries, I am
able to show a rare insight into their construction, design and artistic skill
with unique detailed images.

Please note the change of venue, the Deanwater is now permanently closed..
Not part of your subscription programme, tickets must be bought separately from your subscription. Please use the booking form in "Documents".

An Introduction to Ice Age Art

An introduction to the earliest art known in the world, primarily the artworks from western Europe and dating to c. 40,000 to 12,000 years ago - it takes the form of portable art objects, and also engravings, drawings and paintings on cave walls and in the open air. The story of the art’s discovery and authentication will be followed by a presentation of the main techniques employed (including experimental reconstructions), the pigments, the lighting methods, and some of the many reasons why this art corpus comprises some of the greatest imagery ever produced. A brief survey of the main theories about its meaning and purpose will also be given. 

Paul studied archaeology at the University of Cambridge, and completed PhD thesis (1979) on the prehistory of the French Pyrenees. He has held post-doctoral fellowships, at Liverpool and London, plus a J. Paul Getty postdoctoral fellowship in the History of Art and the Humanities. Devotes time to writing, editing and translating books on archaeology, plus occasional journalism and as much travel as possible. His main research interest is prehistoric art, especially rock art of the world, and most notably Palaeolithic art, as well as Easter Island. He led the team which, at his instigation, searched for and discovered the first Ice Age cave art in Britain (at Creswell Crags) in 2003.

Icons of the ‘Mother of God’ are arguably the most well-known Eastern Orthodox images, however understanding the origins, typology and identifying the hundreds of variants is the domain of the specialist. Discover how to read these wonderful images, learn about their individual histories and better appreciate their spiritual meaning.

Helen is an established professional artist, iconographer and independent art history lecturer specialising in Byzantine and Late Medieval Italian art. She holds a Masters degree in each of these subjects from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, where she is currently reading for a PhD in Byzantine art history. 

Additionally, Helen holds a first-class BA Hons, History of Art from the Open University, a diploma in Fine Art as well as an Adult Education Teaching qualification. Helen has worked at London’s leading Russian Art Auction House (MacDougall Arts) and Christie's, as well as in museums and further education.

For many years Helen has combined her specialist of art history with her art practice. She is the founder and owner of two businesses: ‘Icon Adventures’ which provides interdisciplinary courses in icons and late medieval panel painting online and in person, and ‘Elenis Icons’ - through which Helen continues to undertake significant commissions for churches and cathedrals worldwide.

A talk looking at our wider canal heritage and our local canal history in one lecture. A colourful introduction to the secret world of our 2000-mile inland waterway network and its exceptional artistic, architectural and engineering vernacular. Features range from sweeping aqueducts to tiny bollards; from colourful historic narrowboats to "Roses and Castles" artwork; from grand World Heritage Sites to quirky listed buildings. A well-known architectural historian once described our canals as a "poor man's art gallery”.

The lecture looks at the contributions made by artists of African, Caribbean or Asian origin to British art since the SS Empire Windrush arrived in Tilbury from the West Indies in 1948. It considers, among others, the work of Sir Frank Bowling, Francis Newton Souza, Eddie Chambers, Yinka Shonibare, Sonia Boyce, Rasheed Araeen, Lubaina Himid and the Singh Twins, all of whom have achieved international recognition and respect, their works collected by museums world-wide.

They may not all be household names but their work is eye-catching and thought-provoking, and they have set much of the agenda for British art of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Fifty years ago, many of us were captivated by the 1972 exhibition of Tutankhamun’s Treasures at the British Museum. 2022 is the centenary of the discovery of those treasures by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon and 2023 will celebrate the anniversary of the opening of the tomb for the first time in 3,000 years. The darkness revealed vast riches from antiquity which amongst other influences, spear-headed the design iconography of the emerging art deco movement, lifting the depressed spirits of the inter-war years. Tut-mania affected everything from jewellery and fashion, to architecture and design.

In life, Tutankhamun ruled for just a few years during a chaotic period of upheaval and was so unimportant that he did not even make it onto the famous list of Kings created less than a century later. Yet, in death, his 5,000 precious objects crammed into the smallest royal tomb in the Valley of the Kings, have become some of the world’s most iconic works of art.

Our Speaker

An expert in the history and culture of the Middle East and North Africa. As a professional tour guide and lecturer he has led groups throughout the Middle East and Asia. He has written extensively on Arabia and is the author of The Discovery Guide to Yemen, Insight Guide to the Silk Road and Berlitz Guides to Libya; The Red Sea; Oman; Cairo; Abu Dhabi and Nile Cruising. As a photographer he has pictures represented by four photographic libraries. A broad range of lecturing experience, including to the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Institute of British Architects. As a film producer and cameraman he has made documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic TV and Channel 4.

What skills did it take for a woman to become a painter in 17th century Europe? Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1654) was by no means the only woman painter of her period, but she is a rarity, and she also ranks amongst the greatest painters of the 17th century. Her career spanned a time of great change in Italian taste, from the power and earthiness of Caravaggio, to the more elegant classicism of Reni and Domenichino.

Her family connections meant that she moved between a number of different centres in Europe - Rome, Florence, Naples and London, and her work reflects the different tastes of these centres. This lecture considers her training in the very male world of the Roman studio, and explores her skills in painting in a style which is both individual but which also put her in the forefront wherever in Europe she found herself working.

The Bible is the most frequently printed book in history, and yet rarely are the actual physical books themselves ever considered. In this lecture, Dominic will talk about the extraordinary range of typographical, structural and decorative variations that have been employed in this most ordinary, everyday book. Taken together these remarkable books tell the story of the evolution of book production over the past four centuries.

But when first the ice fell on the lake, and the whole lake was frozen…O my God!  What sublime scenery have I beheld. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1799 October 2022 also marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

During the Romantic period, there was a surge of artistic interest in the season of winter. The coldest months of the year inspired a number of writers and artists; the poet William Cowper wrote pleasurably about the season from the warmth of his fireside; Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Caspar David Friedrich were both inspired by the sublimity of the winter landscape; while William Wordsworth and Henry Raeburn created iconic ice-skating scenes in verse and painting. This seasonal lecture will explore why Romantic writers and artists were so keen on ‘the frosty season’. 
We will learn how their depiction of winter departed from that of earlier times, and how their legacy lives on today in our own ideas about this time of year. 

The Maya created one of the most sophisticated civilizations in the ancient world. Their achievements in the arts and sciences, along with their complex social, political and economic systems, make them one of the most remarkable culture groups in the pre-Columbian Americas.

These people brought us an intricate calendar system, complex hieroglyphic writing, some of the largest pyramids in the world, a form of ballgame that was like no other and most importantly chocolate!

This lecture will discuss the major achievements of the Maya as well as pointing out the common misunderstandings we have of this remarkable civilization.

Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) movement in Munich contained a mix of Russian (Kandinsky, Jawlensky and Werefkin) and German artists (Franz Marc, August Macke, Gabriele Munter). In 1912 they published the Blue Rider Almanach, a compendium of modern art. The group was influenced by art emerging from France, especially the work of Van Gogh and Gauguin, and Fauvist colour combined with Cubist and Futurist construction of the picture surface.

An important influence was the Orphism of Robert Delaunay. The group was also influenced by folk art and a new form of spiritual belief promoted by the Theosophists. Both Kandinsky and Franz Marc believed Europe was on the verge of a new era of ‘the Great Spiritual’ and sought to create a new art for this era. This led them to develop abstraction and also to paint a series of apocalyptic images in the year before the First World War.

When social historian Tessa Boase told the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds she wanted to write their early story, they refused to let her visit their archives. To a former investigative journalist, this was a challenge she could not resist.

This lecture shines a light on the intriguing story of women’s love affair with plumage – and of the brave eco feminists who fought back on behalf of the birds. Moving from a polite Victorian tea party to an egret hunt in a Florida swamp; from a suffragette ‘monster rally’ to a milliner’s dusty workshop, you’ll be taken back in time to a world where every woman, of every class wore a hat.

Meeting starts at 10:00 and is open to members only

Ian is an actor and director and will delight us with an entertaining insight into "seaside life".

A light-hearted look at seaside entertainment over the years, from Bathing Machines to End of the Pier Shows and “What the Butler Saw” machines. The British seaside holiday began with the fashion for sea bathing in the 18th century, but expanded enormously in the 19th century with the arrival of the railways and the era of mass travel. We look at the specialist buildings which proliferated at the seaside in the 19th century, such as piers, towers and aquaria that provided entertainment for the masses – not to mention that famous breed, the seaside landlady!

In this neglected era (1930s), set against a back drop of the Wall Street crash and a questioning of the success of the American dream the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and the New Deal was created. The Roosevelt government initiative meant employment for over eight million largely unskilled Americans and importantly 5,300 artists. Murals, painting, photography, graphic design all flourished. In this lecture we will explore some of the key artists at this time. The abstract painters Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning will be evaluated along with the social realism of Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans and Ben Shahn. The soundtrack of the era was provided by Woody Guthrie and Jimmie Rogers.

Image: Migrant family walking on the road by Dorothea Lange, 1938. From the Library of Congress,

Kate is a historian, writer and artist.

Mark Rothko was an American abstract painter of Latvian Jewish descent. He is best known for his colour field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular regions of color, which he produced from 1949 to 1970.

A master of Abstract Expressionist painting, Mark Rothko sought to make paintings that would bring
people to tears. Like his fellow New York School painters Barnett Newman and Clyfford Still, Rothko
relied on colour, texture and composition to define a new and daring type of abstraction that
propelled New York to take the lead from Paris, Vienna and Berlin after World War II. This hour-long
talk will examine some of these developments in colour and art, situating them within the broader
culture and exploring the sometimes perplexing power of these pieces.​

Dazzled by the impact of French Impressionism it is easy to overlook the stunning achievements of Nordic painters during the 19th century. From the romantic landscapes   of   Norway and Germany, to the impressionistic, moody interiors and dramatic coastal scenes of the Skagen artists’ colony of Skagen in Denmark, this lecture showcases the wide range of visual creations that helped shape a unique cultural identity, forged in part from a battle against the elements and social deprivation as much as political power and provincialism during the latter  years of the 19th century.

Our lecturer, Brian Healey:

A senior modern languages teacher in an independent grammar school for many years, I have also enjoyed a successful parallel career since the 1980s as a professional artist and interior designer. Since 2006 I have been regularly appointed to a number of prestigious ocean and river cruise lines, either as resident artist, guest lecturer on art history or as destination speaker for more than forty countries. Most recently this work has successfully extended to art guiding through important towns and museums in France, Belgium, Holland and Spain. 
 

Please Note, because of the continuing uncertainty around Covid, this lecture will again be via Zoom.  The committee continue to monitor the overall situation, but will always err on the side of caution regarding the possibility of infection in large gathereings such as our lecture meetings.

Meet the Glasgow Girls

For much of the nineteenth century, Scottish art had a very particular character - certainly good, but rather conservative and perhaps a little dull.  The Glasgow Boys emerged on the scene in the early 1880s, excited by new developments on the Continent, and fighting their way to the notice of the British art world.  But there were Glasgow Girls too, a little later, women who made their mark in many branches of art and design, helped by the advent of a new forward-looking regime at the Glasgow School of Art.  This lecture will tell the story of the Glasgow Girls and introduce many of the most important characters, including textile artists Jessie Newbery and Ann Macbeth, illustrator Jessie M King, fine artists Stansmore Dean, Bessie MacNicol and Norah Neilson Gray, and the sets of talented sisters working together in the field of design and applied art - the Waltons, the Gilmours and, of course, the remarkable Macdonalds - Frances and Margaret, the latter known for so much of the twentieth century as just Mrs Mackintosh.  Now their outstanding achievements are being increasingly researched and celebrated, as they so rightly deserve.

Jon is an art historian and lecturer: The Sacred Art of Ancient China. Join me to tour the religious art and
architecture of China. We will see examples of work of the great faiths that dominated the
history of that great civilisation, including the ancient, indigenous Confucian and Taoist
traditions; the image-rich Mahayana version of Buddhism that has been hugely influential in
the country for two thousand years; and the distinctive Chinese responses to Christianity
and Islam.
At the heart of this rich, and often precociously humanistic culture lay a series of concerns
of truly ancient origin: the maintenance of harmonious relations between men and Heaven;
respect for one’s family, including the spirits of ones' ancestors; and the role of the Emperor
as the fulcrum of life in the ‘central Kingdom’, a role as much spiritual as secular.
During the lecture we will visit mountain-tops decorated with Confucian calligraphy; some
of the oldest wooden buildings in the world — the Buddhist temples of Wutaishan, built in
the eighth century and with their decoration and sculpture intact — and Mandarin’s
gardens, their design infused with symbolism from Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian
traditions. These between them comprised the ‘three teachings’ (San Jiao) encouraged by
the imperial Chinese state.
Even today, Beijing’s layout is recognisably that of a sacred city designed around the palace
and sacrificial altars associated with the imperial cult: we will see what remains of these,
and ponder the role of religion in China’s modern, secular and rapidly developing state. By
the end of the hour, you will have a clear and vivid idea of the enormous significance of
religion for the Chinese arts.

Anne is an art historian and lecturer

In 1865, Tiffany traveled to Europe, and in London he visited the V & A Museum, whose extensive collection of Roman and Syrian glass made a deep impression on him. He admired the colouration of medieval glass and was convinced that the quality of contemporary glass could be improved upon. In his own words, the "Rich tones are due in part to the use of pot metal full of impurities, and in part to the uneven thickness of the glass, but still more because the glass maker of that day abstained from the use of paint".

In a period of just over 100 years a city state called Athens invented a new form of communal expression called theatre and found that living amongst them happened to be four of the greatest writers the world has ever known; Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes. It all starts here!

Image: Model of Greek terracotta Theatre Mask, 400 - 100 BC National Museum of Scotland, photographed by Alf van Beem, public domain image

THIS LECTURE WILL BE ON ZOOM. MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE THE LINK 2 DAYS BEFORE THE LECTURE 

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a man out of step with his time. Scorning the traditional idealised interpretation of religious subjects, he took his models from the streets, painting them realistically and heightening the emotional intensity by his dramatic contracts of light and shade. Such a revolutionary style was condemned by many as was his equally dramatic personal life and uncontrollable temper which involved him in endless brawls and even murder. This lecture will study the life and works of this enigmatic man and of his influence on later artists.

Image: Supper at Emmaus by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1601, National Gallery

THIS LECTURE WILL BE LIVESTREAMED ONLY.  

Details can be found by clicking here:  Study Day

The celebration of the period following Christmas can be traced back several millennia, and to at least two cultures – neither of them Christian. One of them is the southern Roman feast of Kalends on the 1st January, and the other, the northern Nordic festivals of Yuletide surrounding the celebrations of the Winter solstice. However, it was Pope Julius I who decided to subvert the gluttony, drunkenness and sun worship to Christian purpose, and by choosing the 25th December to celebrate the birth of Christ, he neatly bridged these cultures and paved the way for future Christmas festivities. And so it is that many of our modern Christmas customs and carols bear references to traditions that have nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Nonetheless, each year, Christ’s birthday on 25th December signifies the beginning of twelve festive days of celebrations and music making. In this lecture-recital Peter Medhurst explores the wealth of Christmas music, traditions and curious legends that are connected with them. Music performed includes: Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly, The Coventry Carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas, The Wassail Song, The Three Kings – Cornelius. 

Image: Twelfth Night print. Print made by Issac Cruikshank 1794, published by Laurie & Whittle

THIS LECTURE WILL EITHER BE HELD AT THE DEANWATER BEFORE A FESTIVE CHRISTMAS LUNCH, AT THE BROOKDALE OR LIVESTREAMED. DETAILS WILL BE CONFIRMED HERE NEARER THE TIME 

To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, born in December 1770, Sandy guides us through the life and work of this brilliant, cantankerous, visionary and astonishingly original composer, a man who tore up the rule book of classical music. Visual illustrations include a selection of contemporary portraits, while musical examples are drawn from his genre-busting piano sonatas, quartets and symphonies, and from the revolutionary opera Fidelio. We are talking about much more than just a musician here – Beethoven was a true Romantic artist, or as he preferred to describe himself, a “poet in sound.”

Image: Joseph Willibrord Mähler's 1804-5 portrait of Beethoven, Beethoven Museum, Vienna, Open Access Image 

THIS LECTURE WILL BE LIVESTREAMED ONLY. ON THE 14th OCTOBER MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE A LINK ALLOWING THE LECTURE TO BE VIEWED ONLINE 

In 2015, England celebrated 800 years of Magna Carta. Beyond heralding the legal importance of the document, little has been said about the consequences of 1215 in the designs of the great early Gothic cathedrals then rising across the nation, which were subject to many revisions. The speaker's recent research contributes to new thinking on what these changes represented. This talk explores the politics of church and state in the thirteenth century and their unfolding expression in the arts of Canterbury, Salisbury, Peterborough (then an abbey), Wells, Lincoln and Lichfield cathedrals, and the royal palace and abbey complex at Westminster.

Image: Painted Ceiling at Peterborough Cathedral

THIS LECTURE WILL BE LIVESTREAMED ONLY. ON THE 7th SEPTEMBER MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE A LINK ALLOWING THE LECTURE TO BE VIEWED ONLINE 

Raphael is often referred to as one of the three giants of the High Renaissance in Italy, alongside Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, yet his fame and position in the canon of art history may seem hard to explain. He made no discoveries like those of his celebrated rivals: although undoubtedly a draughtsman of exceptional talent he made no great progress in the fields of anatomy, science and construction nor did he share the wide-ranging talents which Leonardo and Michelangelo demonstrated in so many disciplines. Furthermore, his career was short-lived as he died tragically young, aged 37. Yet in this relatively short space of time Raphael managed to move from humble initial commissions in and around his home town of Urbino to the covetous position of one of the leading artists at the court of the most important patron in Italy, Pope Julius II, for whom he created some of the most sublime and influential frescoes of the early 16th century. We explore how Raphael achieved this extraordinary rise in status, tracing the development of early works and influences to the masterpieces created in Rome.

Image: St. Catherine of Alexandria, National Gallery

A comprehensive survey of his life and the development of his art, from his early struggles as an artist up to his final recognition as RSA, RSW. The people he met - Gauguin, Vuillard, Hornel- and the places he painted - Kirkcudbright, Normandy, Venice - form the core of the talk.

The illustrations cover all aspects of his oeuvre - watercolour, oil, tooled leatherwork woodblock prints and sculpture. A journey with this 'forgotten man' of Scottish art will provide evidence of his skill as a colourist and reclaim his place in art's pantheon.

 AT THE BROOKDALE AS NORMAL 

At the start of the Silk Road, the complex technologies required for the production of cultivated silk were only known in China. Within several centuries they had spread across Afro-Eurasia. This lecture will tell the story of this diffusion, discussing examples of silks surviving from this period and how we can identify their origins from their weaves and designs. 

Image: 17th century Chinese woodblock print showing how the care of the silkworms was carried out by women in a domestic setting..

*************** VENUE CHANGED TO THE DEANWATER HOTEL WOODFORD ***********

Inspired by the bicentenary of the birth of John Ruskin (1819 – 1900) in 2019, this lecture celebrates the extraordinary life and work of this visionary Victorian. As writer, teacher, artist, collector, patron and critic, Ruskin was perhaps the most complete polymath of the 19th century. He left behind a dazzling range of writing and collections that continue to inspire and generate debate around the world. Perhaps most famous today as a champion of Turner and admirer of Venice, Ruskin’s impact ranged far and wide; his ideas inspired the Arts and Crafts Movement and the founding of the National Trust, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and the Labour Movement. George Eliot wrote ‘I venerate him as one of the great teachers of the day’, and he influenced the thinking of Tolstoy, Proust and Gandhi among others.

Alongside this international reach, Ruskin became deeply concerned by what he saw as the negative impacts of the industrialization of 19th century England, and as a teacher, thinker and philanthropist he set up projects that aspired to give the working man access to beauty, art, craft and the land. In 1871, he founded what became the Guild of St George, the charity for arts, crafts and the rural economy, and gave it a sizeable collection of art, books and minerals for public display and education in Sheffield. Today, cared for by Museums Sheffield, the collection continues to honour his legacy, sharing something of Ruskin’s encyclopedic European sensibility for the benefit of a 21st century city. This lecture spans Ruskin’s life and work from the timeless and global to the intimate and exquisite, to paint a portrait of a great life.

Image is the Western Façade of St Mark's Basilica, Venice (1876-82) by John Wharlton Bunney. Collection of the Guild of St George, Museums Sheffield

PLEASE NOTE: THIS LECTURE FOLLOWS THE AGM, OPEN TO MEMBERS ONLY.

There are currently over 316,000 listed buildings in England, and thousands more in Scotland and Wales. But only a tiny proportion of those are related to sports or recreation. After 35 years of research in the field, Simon Inglis introduces us to some of the most interesting examples, from a 15th century tennis court in Scotland to a 1970s skatepark in Essex. Why are these buildings – among them grandstands, pavilions, squash courts and scoreboards – so important? What do they tell us about our sporting heritage and social history? And why has it taken so long for recreational buildings to achieve the same level of protection afforded to buildings in other sectors? Wherever possible Simon will feature local examples in his lecture.

Zaha was one of the most distinguished and awarded architects in the world before her untimely death in 2016.  She set architecture free by rejecting 90 degree angles and embracing what she called a 'seamless fluidity'.  In her paintings she created a world where there is no definition, lines converge and gravity disappears.  The lecture will show her completed works around the world in breath taking images. 

A whistle-stop tour of the history of food as artistic medium; starting with 16th century sugar sculpture and venturing all the way up to 3D dessert printing and beyond. This exploration into the realms of dessert as spectacle includes accompanying edible examples to illustrate and enhance the historic subject.

This lecture tells the story of fine bindings in Britain over the last 450 years. We begin with William Caxton, the first printer in England, and his pioneering work in early book production in the T udor period. The journey continues through the Renaissance and the age of fabulous
gold tooled bindings, through the richly embroidered book covers of the seventeenth century, and the majesty of Dr Johnson and his dictionary. We reach the apex with William Morris and the Kelmscott Chaucer, possibly the greatest book of the printed age, which led to the amazing work of
Sangorski and Sutcliffe, the finest bookbinders of the twentieth century. Dominic will then discuss the new world of Design Binding which emerged after the Second World War, as modern design entered the craft, and finish with examples from some of the best artistic binders working today,
including a few of Dominic's own prize-winning bindings.

THIS REPLACES THE SCHEDULED LECTURE BY DR JONATHAN FOYLE. UNFORTUNATELY DR FOYLE HAD TO CANCEL AT SHORT NOTICE BECAUSE OF A FAMILY ILLNESS

Amongst the paintings exhibited in Paris in 1787, was a portrait that caused consternation because the subject was shown smiling. Moreover, the subject’s teeth were visible at a time when displaying teeth was associated with moral deficiency. The portrait was a self-portrait by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, a leading portraitist at the court of Louis XVI. Mme Lebrun was forced to flee France when the king and his queen, Marie Antoinette, were imprisoned. She went on to have a successful career working across Europe. This lecture presents an overview of Lebrun’s career and explains why she portrayed herself smiling.

Modern graffiti is often seen as transgressive and moronic. However, look closely in the light of a torch at the walls of our historic buildings, trees, caves and rockfaces and you will see a world of graffiti left that illuminates the psychology of our ancestors. The study of historic graffiti enables us to hear the lost voices of ordinary individuals through their images of daisywheels, ships sailing across the walls, knights drawing their swords, demons stalking the stonework and every animal imaginable…

Many artists have discovered that humour is the key to winning the hearts of the English!  Caricature, satire and the cartoon have given pleasure, satisfaction, amusement and relief, whilst drawing down censure and puncturing pomposity across class divides since the Eighteenth Century.  From the witty and genteel to the vicious and scurrilous, these pithy encapsulations of the recognisable, continue to have relevance today. They are miniature masterpieces, ephemeral yet enduring through time.  From the Georgians; Gillray & Rowlandson, to Punch and Strand cartoonists, Tenniel, Sambourne, Leach and Dickie Doyle and from Thelwell to Scarfe these visual drolleries have lost none of their appeal. This lecture will trace the history of cartoonery in British public life, as a means of observing and commenting upon society and the politics of the day.

Artists were never far behind the explorers who opened up the west of America in the 19th Century. Sometimes they painted what they saw. Sometimes they painted what they wished they saw. Either way, painters like Alfred Miller, Frederick Church and Albert Bierstadt have left us a powerful, if romanticised, record of the country and people that the settlers found. Now we can use their pictures to chart the  history of the opening of America’s west - the arrival of the railroad, the confinement of native Americans into reservations, and the extermination of the buffalo. This is a story on a big scale and it seems appropriate that among the pictures illustrating the lecture are some of the largest and most grandiloquent paintings of the era. After a period of deep neglect, they are now very much back in vogue, but whatever one thinks of their artistic merits, hopefully audiences agree they are great fun. 

Malaysia has a rich and vibrant artistic heritage, yet the country’s first art school was founded only fifty years ago. The first organised system of training before the 1960s came from the Chinese art societies that were founded in colonial Malaysia, inspired by the pre-war model of the Penang Impressionists. Malaysia is now seeking to make its mark on the international art world with a developing infrastructure and sense of artistic identity. This lecture traces the history of Malaysian fine art practice to include styles such as post-Impressionism and the celebrated expressionism of masters like Latiff Mohidin and Syed Ahmad Jamal, unique forms of expression such as batik painting, the New Scene movement of the 1970s to the Malay-Islamic formulation that dominated the 1980s, and ending with the pluralism of the last 20 years. 

Lars is a Ceramicist as well as a Hogarth specialist. Most of his current talks focus on the European and the East-West China trade and the material world of the 17th and 18th century. He is a regular lecturer and broadcaster and leads occasional tours to China. Born in Copenhagen, he read Archaeology at Cambridge, was at Sothebys for sixteen years, and is today London's Foundling Museum's 'Hogarth Ambassador'. He holds an Honorary Doctorate in Art, is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and sits on the court of The Company of Weavers, London's oldest guild. He has served twice on the Art Fund's Annual Prize to Museums and Galleries. He has presented numerous programmes on TV and radio, he writes on many subjects, is passionate about music and shares Archie (a black Labrador) with his wife and their two grown-up daughters.

From February to October 2018 The Terracotta Warriors will be exhibited at Liverpool’s World Museum and our trip on 17 October to be booked separately.  

PLEASE NOTE: THIS LECTURE FOLLOWS THE AGM, OPEN TO MEMBERS ONLY.

Caroline Shenton: Votes for Women: Art, Suffragettes and Female Politicians  (It is the 10th Anniversary of the Equal Franchise Act in 2018) 

To mark the centenary of women first getting the vote which falls in 2018, this lecture will explore the story of the suffragettes through portrayals in art and their own artistic productions, and will look at how contemporary artists choose to portray female politicians in our own time and the controversies surrounding these depictions

In 1538, for the dynastic wedding of William Davenport to Margaret Booth, the interiors of Bramall Hall were transformed by London-based mural artists.  The walls of the Great Parlour were painted in imitation of luxury silk damask – the only scheme of its kind to survive in England.  Upstairs, the Solar was painted as though hung with rich verdure tapestry peopled with scenes of music-making by Fool, Monkey and courtly minstrels – and much more!  This lecture is the story of the rediscovery and interpretation of what is, perhaps, the most significant scheme of wall-paintings to survive in England from the reign of King Henry VIII. 

The temples, iconography, sculptures, textiles, dance performances, literature, landscapes and people of Burma are infused with the spirit of Buddhism. This gentle philosophy, preaching peace and serenity, has inspired some of the greatest art and architecture in the world, nowhere more so than in Burma, now known as Myanmar. This lecture shows the artistic glories of temples throughout the country, their spires, statues, carvings, murals and rituals. It illustrates the religious symbolism of exquisite textiles and compelling dance ceremonies, showing how Buddhism inspired heroes such as Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the world’s most significant advocates of peace.

Road and rail, sea and air, the infrastructure of travel has provided many architectural treasures from the thatched petrol station of Blashford, Hampshire to the futuristic styling of Los Angeles airport. This lecture examines the art and architecture of travelling and includes often overlooked gems including bus and railway stations, travel posters and tube stations. It examines leading artists and architects in the sphere of travel, including John Hassall, Fougasse, Leslie Green, and Richard Rogers

The Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry is regarded as the finest 15th century illuminated manuscript.  A jewel-like collection of secular and religious images, it is not only a fine example of the International Gothic style of painting which swept through Europe in the early 15th century but also gives us a wonderful insight into life at one of the most glittering courts of its day. 

Yet they were painted at a time when Europe was embroiled in what is known as the 100 years war and frequent outbreaks of the plague could decimate the population.  My lecture will study this beautiful manuscript, its patron, the Duc de Berry and its artists, the Limbourg Brothers both as a work of art but also as a reflection of society at that time.   

Giotto di Bondone (d.1337) was the first Italian artist to be famous in his own lifetime. He was sought after by the most powerful men in Italy, from kings and popes to poor Franciscan friars and rich merchant bankers. According to legend, Giotto was a boy wonder: Giorgio Vasari, in the 16th century, claimed he was talent-spotted by Cimabue, who saw the country lad drawing a sheep on a rock. Establishing the truth about Giotto is surprisingly difficult. Some of the works that were admired by Vasari are now agreed not to have been Giotto’s, while his authorship of the St. Francis cycle in Assisi is still hotly contested. On the other hand, the Arena Chapel frescoes in Padua, for which Giotto is best known today, weren’t even mentioned by Vasari. Giotto’s contemporaries admired his paintings above all for their naturalism. They claimed he had brought the art of painting up-to-date by rejecting Byzantine style and rediscovering the Classical. This lecture separates the legend from the reality, exploring the life and career of Giotto to discover the defining qualities of his work, asking why he is so important in the history of western art. 

At the turn of the last century, Vienna was the capital of a vast empire and one of the most exciting artistic libraries in the world. It produced painters such as Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, architects like Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos and Josef Hoffman.the psychoanalist Sigmund Freud,  the composer Gustav Mahler and the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Looking at these and others figures in the context of the society in which they worked, this talk asks how and why the City of Dreams became a cultural hotbed around 1900. 

Sub-titled 'Art, Design and Pleasure on the Cote d'Azur in the 1920s and 30s', this talk rounds up the lecture programme with a summery theme. "One could get away with more on the summer riviera, and whatever happened seemed to have something to do with art" - F. Scott Fitzgerald. Since the 19th century English high society had always 'wintered over' on the Cote d'Azur but always left by April. In the early 1920s, however, an intoxicating mix of artists, writers, musicians and international visitors - inspired by a mythological seascape of luminous colours - created a new summer season. Sun tans and sportswear soon became de rigueur in the chic new coastal resorts, villas and hotels. This liberating playground of ideas across the visual design arts was stimulated by impresarios Serge Diaghilev and Paul Poiret. Traditional boundaries were torn down. Matisse, Picasso, Dufy, Cocteau and Chanel merged the worlds of fashion, theatre and interiors. Cole Porter, Scott Fitzgerald and the intriguing Gerald and Sara Murphy introduced an American perspective and attracted an influential new set of discerning patrons and collectors. We will 'time travel' to meet them!

PLEASE NOTE: THIS LECTURE FOLLOWS THE AGM, OPEN TO MEMBERS ONLY.

Image: Cote d'Azure 1930s.

Kate says that 20 years of working with many and varied dress collections taught her that the way the human body is clothed - from the WWI munitions girl to the Duchess of Devonshire's couture wardrobe - speaks volumes about its place in society. An institution that has long recognised this truth is the British monarchy. This new lecture will look at some of the sartorial tricks that royalty has played to present its public face to best advantage. Through fine art and the actual garments themselves, the lecture tells the story of royal dress in all its many forms, from the artistry of the Coronation to State balls and from the painting to the photograph. Dress can be powerful. Dress can be influential. The British Monarchy dressed to rule.

Image: Queen Elizabeth 1

Sub-titled 'How Lord Elgin Gained and Lost His Marbles', this is our final talk in the Grand Tour theme. Better known as the Elgin Marbles, the Parthenon Sculptures were brought to England from Greece between 1801 and 1805. They profoundly influenced the European public, regenerating interest in ancient Greek culture and causing artistic trends. In June 1816 the House of Commons voted for the nation to acquire the collection of antique sculptures assembled by Lord Elgin, most notably those from the Parthenon in Athens. It was a controversial decision. The lecture will begin with a description of these 2,500-year-old sculptures and why they are so celebrated. It examines why they were so sought after, the circumstances through which Lord Elgin 'acquired' them and how they came to be purchased by the British Museum 200 years ago. Image: A section of a Parthenon sculptures frieze

Now home to a private members' club, Lansdowne House was originally the home of the Marquis of Lansdowne, who himself went on a Grand Tour. The current art collection there highlights this Grade II building's fascinating architectural, social and political history through 18th century prints and oils, together with photography, modern silkscreens, lithographs and mixed media works. The internal fabric of this important building fuses 18th century neo-classical architecture with Art Deco styles. The talk will examine the original floor plan as designed by celebrated Scottish architect Robert Adam and subsequent changes by other renowned architects. Also highlighted will be key works in the modern British art collection by artists such as Nigel Bengstrom, Jennifer Dickson RA, Michelle McKinney and Richard Heep. As the former home of a British Prime Minister, Lord Shelburne (1st Marquis of Lansdowne) and department store magnate Harry Gordon Selfridge, the house gave rise to stories of intrigue and passion - as reflected in the art collection.

Sub-titled 'To the Far Side of the World', author and historian Peter Warwick will explain how Captain Cook's explorations developed from the thinking of the Enlightenment. Inspired by humanism, it was the age of reason and learning that flourished across Europe and America from about 1680 to 1820. This thirst for learning also spawned the Grand Tour. The lecture takes the form of an artistic and cultural appreciation of the three remarkable voyages of Captain Cook (7 November 1728 - 14 February 1779) and their impact on the Enlightenment.

Peter has lectured at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Foundation, National Museum of the Royal Navy, Defence Academy and others. He has also advised on tv documentaries.

Image: Portrait of Captain James Cook by John Webber.

Ex BBC, an author and historian, Gillian will take us on a virtual tour of the ancient sites of the Mediterranean so that we can understand more of the peoples who lived there and what the young men undertaking a Grand Tour might have seen. Ancient sites are littered with ruined architecture and museums are full of works of art testifying to the once great civilisations of Greece, Rome, Egypt etc. Gillian will show how those civilisations fit together into a big picture and how to differentiate between their art and architecture. She will also explain why their lives and cultures prompted them to create such features.

Image: A view of the Forum in Rome.

For our Christmas lecture and lunch at Mottram Hall (bookable separately) we step away from the Grand Tour theme for a colourful talk that will take us back to our childhoods. Many of the deeply etched images we carry in our heads come from illustrations in books that we read as children. Unforgettable are pictures of Tigger, Toad, Black Beauty, The Knights of the Round Table and many others. John will compare different styles of illustration - from simple line drawing to photo realistic imagery - and examine how the interaction of image and narrative creates such powerful memories. He will also look at the lives of famous illustrators such as Beatrix Potter, Howard Pyle and Arthur Rackham.

Nicola Moorby is an independent art historian and a former curator and researcher at Tate Britain. There she curated or co-curated a number of exhibitions including Turner and the Sea (2005-6), Colour and Line: Turner’s Experiments (2008-present), Romantics (2011) and Watercolour (2011). She is co-editor and author of How to Paint Like Turner (Tate Publishing, 2010) and was responsible for researching Turner’s first Italian tour for Tate’s new online catalogue of the Turner Bequest. NB: this lecture is on the fourth Wednesday of the month. Image: Snow Storm off Harwich by JMW Turner

The Grand Tour could last from several months to several years and often served as an educational rite of passage. It informed the Classical style in garden design, art and architecture and was part of the Enlightenment, which stimulated exploration and learning. Image: Pompeo Battoni's portrait of Grand Tourist Francis Bassett

This lecture looks at the life and work of Paula Rego, a British artist of Portuguese origin best known for her depictions of folk tales and strikingly unusual images of women. In 1990 she was invited to become the first Associate Artist at the National Gallery. Her well-known series of paintings and prints based on nursery rhymes emerged from this residency, In her early days, Rego experimented with different styles and was much influenced by Surrealism, but her mature style places a strong emphasis on clear draughtsmanship and the human figure. She produces works which suggest complicated narratives full of psychological tension, drama, and emotion. She was made a DBE in 2010. Image: Paula Rego in her studio.

Bulgaria's well-preserved mediaeval monasteries are part of the Orthodox tradition of religious art and architecture in SE Europe that stems from Byzantium. This lecture illustrates fascinating developments in fresco and icon painting, in particular, and emphasises the religious significance of the decorative features of these churches. It also covers prehistoric Thracian tombs, public buildings from the Roman period and vernacular architecture from the Ottoman period - beautifully conserved in Bulgaria's towns and villages to the present day. Image: Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria